June 2, 2010

Communication Breakdown

By now, everyone must have made their mind up about what happened in Turkey between the Red Bull drivers, no need to show all that again right?

I found this little clip from the second free practice interesting. Let's see if you can figure out what Mark Webber is trying to communicate before it ends....

Couple of points this brings up:

Hey, that new mandatory mirror placement on F1 cars really works, Webber does a splendid job backing into that narrow lane!

Seriously, fire guys at a Formula 1 event keep the pin in the fire extinguisher during a live practice and take 20 seconds to fumble it out?

Did you notice Webber's left glove has neoprene on it, like the Ferrari drivers had last month to control their first version of the F-duct?

Now to wider points lost in translation:

Who forgot to tell Webber you can't ask your teammate to please slow down?Who forgot to tell Vettel that Webber has the widest car in F1?Who forgot to tell Red Bull that Webber is leading the championship?

and while I'm at it:

Who forgot to tell Martin Brundle that calling Alonso a miserable son of a bitch to interview, live on the BBC broadcast just makes Brundle sound like a bitter, non two time world champion, old fart?

Who forgot to tell the press to stop complaining about F1 drivers being "primadonnas"? Show me a driver who's not a "primadonna" and I'll show you someone who will never be world champion. Senna, Schumacher, Prost, PIquet, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, you name them, they all want to get every possible advantage and stopped at nothing to get it. Look at Hamilton, he was all pissy after winning this past week end because he thought the team was behind Jenson....sound familiar?

So why this effort against Alonso, who really has done no major complaining about Ferrari's lack of pace,to paint him as the only "primadonna"? I can understand the UK press having it in for Schumacher or even Vettel, after all WW II has only been over for 70 odd years or so but this war with the Spanish? You have to let go at some point.

The English press still has its nose out of shape because of the Spanish Armada. Here in the US the press has forgotten about the two wars we are still in.. but the English press knows how to hold a grudge for 500 years or more.

I dont see anything that Alonso has done this year that would lead anyone to complain about his performance outside the car. I would say he has dealt with adversity very well this year.

I just wish I could find a good reliable stream of all this BBC commentary. SpeedTV has almost no post race coverage. I watch 1st and 3rd practice on bbc via the net... but I cant find anyone streeming the post race stuff.

Wow It's so hard to find positive Alonso comments on any english speaking media/forum/blog. The guy is not Ayrton Senna, but then he is above many F1 champions, and remember he won his 2 championships when Schumacher was still in activity. He put and end to a decade of the german supremacy in the sport.

I'd have to add Damon Hill to the "not a prima donna" list. Williams gave him plenty of reason to throw his toys out of the pram, but he took it in stride, put his head down and made the most of his opportunity.

BTW, I'm not letting the Spanish media off either. The Spanish hold grudges even longer: their typical F1 coverage is like "Alonso had a glorious climb from 10th to 9th place while that moorish Mclareren driver had it easy up front" :)

I agree with Jonathan. Alfonso only grassed up because he was getting his ass kicked. If he was 20 points clear in the Championship you wouldn't have heard a thing. In the same car as Hamilton he hasn't a chance.

Button may not be a primadonna but he does not have the balls either.I was surprised at how tamely he decided to lay back and follow after hammy almost pushed him off the track. Hamilton was desperate for a win and he won, button showed no such urgency, which is why they'll never count him with the best...

I've never met Alonso, but Martin Brundle's assessment seems to tally with his reputation - phenomenally talented but a pain to work with. Thats hardly unusual, as you say in the article, with a few exceptions all world champions are primadonnas. However that doesn't mean that Brundle has to pretend to like them. That's what I like about his commentary, I don't think he's bitter, just honest.

I must admit - I don't like Alonso. Yes I think a lot of the rest of them are primadonas too, but there's just a few things about him that wind me up - mainly that picture of him in the red and white chequered jumper, and the wee beard thing he had going for a while.